Money and Monsters
by grayskies28
Summary: This is an alternate version for LaughingThalia's work on AO3 entitled "Of (Money) Monsters and Men".


**So this fanfic was inspired by LaughingThalia's work on AO3 entitled "Of (Money) Monsters and Men" so this is basically an alternate version for that. I hope I didn't cross any lines I shouldn't, ypu guys should check LaughingThalia's first before reading ahead so you'll know which parts are from hers and which are just added by me thanks to my imagination.**

It was just past two in the morning and Lee was sitting alone in the Money Monster studio with Kyle's discarded gun in one hand and a glass of scotch in the other. He managed to figure out how to get one of the cameras turned on together with a single spotlight, not wanting to alert security of his presence in the building at this hour. He took another swig of the scotch and stared blankly at the camera he has managed to turn on despite his drunkenness.

"The name is Lee Gates. The show is Money Monster. The day is Monday, no Tuesday, 21st of June 2016."

He paused for a second and stared down at the gun, trying to think of what to say through his alcoholic haze, the drink in his hand had not been his first and if the bottle just outside of frame was anything to go by it wouldn't be his last either. Finally he straightened up and held his glass tighter.

"Less than a week ago, I sat here with a man holding this very same gun to my head and a bomb strapped to my chest and I appealed to the millions of people all over the world who were watching the news; who were watching me get taken hostage. A little under a week ago I sat at this very desk looking into the same camera and I begged, I pleaded for you to spend eight dollars, eight fuckin' dollars on stock to save the lives of the people in this building, to save my life and no one did."

He took another swig and waved the gun around as if gesturing with his hand.

"Not one person could spare eight dollars to save a life and I think that's terrible. I think if that's the world we live in I don't want to live in it."

He chugged down his cup of scotch, walked over to his desk and poured himself another glass

"Then it occurred to me. People spend eight dollars on people in need all the time. Heck, people spend fuckin' eighty dollars on people who should be saved and then it hit me: I don't live in a world where one person won't help their fellow men because of greed or the love of money, no I live in a world where my fellow men won't give up eight fuckin' dollars to save a fuckin' life. Specifically my life. And I know why."

He took another gulp of his drink.

"I'm a fucking asshole! I'm a fucking selfish cunt who's never thought of anyone other than myself my whole life and I made a business by screwing other people over, I made you think I was some sort of fucking stock genius but I'm as clueless as you! What do I know about stock trading? Jack shit that's what. You'd be better off trading off your own assessments of the stock market. I am a terrible, terrible human being and the only good thing I ever did in my life maybe, was exposing Walt Camby for his crimes, I did it to have my own goddamn life. And I put thousands in danger whilst doing so, bringing Kyle into the streets with a gun and a bomb, fake or not, people could have been killed, I mean my friend Ron got shot."

He stopped for half a minute, slowly sipping his drink, thinking of what to say next.

"Kyle wasn't evil. He just wanted to know where his money was. He wanted the truth for every one and he died for the truth. Some of you may say he's a terrorist or a lunatic but he opened my eyes and that doesn't sound very reassuring seeing as I'm sitting here with a gun that was supposedly used by Kyle, getting drunk but he's made the most sense out of every one I've ever met in my entire life. He wasn't a bad guy, he just had a terrible girlfriend."

He heard faint footsteps coming from outside and looked directly at the camera.

"I'm going to give half of my money to Patty, Lenny and to the rest of the crew who stayed here when there was a fucking bomb and the other half will be split between my kid's college fund and a charity of their choice. Now I'm going to put this bullet in my brain and it's going to be on the news and it will trend on Twitter and maybe people will mourn and maybe people will call me an attention seeking son of a bitch for doing this and then, in a couple of days, a week, a month if I'm lucky, people will eventually forget I ever existed and I'll fade into history the way so many do. And Patty, the wonderful Patty Fenn, will always be the only one.. The only one who actually cares about me. The one whose always been there for me."

"Hey, who's in there?", a muffled but familiar voice to Lee's ears said from the other side of the door then three hard knocks.

Lee held the gun tighter in his hand and averted his eyes from the camera to the door and his suspicions to who it was was confirmed.

 _Patty? What in the world is she doing here at this hour?_

"Lee?", Patty said, clearly confused as she saw his figure through the door window, her voice a bit muffled. She looked at him from head to toe but her eyes stopped at the sight of the gun in his hand. Her eyes widened and started to open the door which is of course locked.

"LEE! OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!", Patty shouted as she continued ragging the door handle.

Lee stared at her for a moment, watching her try to bust the door open. He took another sip and set the glass on the desk. His clutch on the gun tightened as he weighed out his options now that he's been found out.

Patty, on the other hand, was still trying to get the door open.

"Lee, open this door please. C'mon Lee, open this goddamn door.", Patty said, no scratch that, she begged him to open the door, unaware of the tears that are making their way down her cheeks as she did so.

 _Don't do this Lee. Don't do this._

Lee was at lost. For almost five years that he's known her and worked with her, he never heard Patty sound so broken, so defeated. He looked back at her and was surprised to see tears streaming down her cheeks. Seeing her like that made something click inside him and he put the gun's safety on and tucked it at the back of his jeans and went and opened the door.

"LEE!", Patty cried in relief, tears still coming, as she hugged him tightly the moment he opened the door.

Lee smiled and hugged her just as tight as she is hugging him. His hazy mind making him momentarily forget why he was even there until Patty broke the hug and looked at his shoulders. Or more specifically at the studio camera and single spotlight that was on.

"Uuum." He looked down on his feet as he remembered why he was here, to shoot a suicide video and then.. well commit suicide.

"Lee what do you think you're doing?", she asked warily as she walked towards the desk shifting her gaze at Lee and the bottle of scotch that was almost empty.

Lee couldn't exactly tell her the truth but in his intoxicated state he found it hard to come up with another excuse to what he was doing in the studio at that hour.

"I just.. I uuum... I was...", he tried to construct something but he couldn't find any words so he ended up looking down at his shoes and then slowly returning his gaze to Patty's.

"Lee you weren't going to...", she looked at him questioningly as if she suspected what he had been doing. Lee walked around the stage and faced the television monitor that Kyle shot when he was held captive, his back facing Patty.

"You weren't going to kill yourself were you?", Patty finally asked, staring at Lee's back, scared of the answer she might get.

He then turned to face her, opened his mouth to rebuff her, to tell her 'What? Of course not! I love living!' but no words came and he couldn't even look her in the eye.

Patty turned around, running her hands through her hair.

"God Lee! Why!?", she caught sight of the camera light signifying that it was on and recording.

"You were filming?", her eyes widened and she spun around as realization hits her. She stared at Lee, waiting for an answer. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest as if it was gonna burst out any second. Lee closed his eyes, confirming her suspicions.

Lee then sighed, defeated. "You always knew me so damn well, Patty."

"God! Why Lee!? Why would you even try to do this? You have people that care about you!", Patty said as she walked past him and stopped the camera from recording and turned it off.

"I only have one person who cares for me Patty! Three marriages and one kid later and you're the only one who gives a damn about me in the world!", Lee shouted, finally letting his drunkenness take control of letting his frustrations out.

"Other people care about you Lee! There's Ron, he got shot for you!", Patty shot back, walking over to him so that they could be face to face.

"He got shot because of me I doubt getting shot was his goal!", He walked through the stage angrily as he retrieved the gun from his back and started swinging it around. Patty flinched at the gesture but she never backed down.

"Bree told me the police were going to shoot you, she was terrified something would happen to you because she cares; Diane Lester risked her job and her relationship for you; Lenny got into a small elevator with a man with a gun and a bomb simply because you asked him too. Matty cares, Sam cares. The whole damn crew cares Lee. People care about you.", Patty said, trying to calm him down.

Lee stopped pacing the stage and looked at her. Patty was shocked to see Lee like this. He has tears running down his cheeks and he seems unaware of them, his eyes were so sad, so broken. This was the first time Patty has seen the amazing Lee Gates so broken and so lost.

"Then why Patty? Why did no one buy the damn stock? Eight dollars Patty. Eight fuckin' dollars to save a life Patty, to save my life.", Lee said as he walked over back to the desk and poured himself another glass of scotch and immediately chugged the glass down and poured another.

Patty, knowing that he was getting unstable with his drunkenness and frustrations, quickly walked over to him, grabbed the glass before he can down the liquor once again and kissed him. And to her surprise, Lee kissed her back.

Their kiss lasted for a couple of more seconds until Patty broke the kiss and stared at his eyes.

"They don't know you Lee. They don't know you like I do. They don't matter. They're selfish pricks.", she said trying to resolve the matter.

"I'm a selfish prick." Lee visibly deflated.

"Lee, sweetheart, just give me the gun and we can talk about this, okay?", she slowly reached forward, careful not to startle him, like she had seen Kyle.

"I'm not crazy Patty, I'm not going to just flip out and start shooting.", Lee said, knowing what she was thinking.

"Well it's really hard to believe that when you came here to shoot yourself in the first place.", she retorted opening up her hand in front of him.

He rolled his eyes but handed her the gun. She placed it in the back of her jeans, like Lee did. She had never owned a gun, never even held one before, she briefly wondered if the safety was turned on and if it would go off in her trousers if it wasn't. She ignored her worry about the gun and instead walked around the table and hugged Lee.

Lee automatically wrapped his own arms around Patty, hugging her tightly as if making sure she wasn't gonna disappear like a bubble and that this wasn't his imagination or a hallucination caused by the scotch.

Patty, sensing his body tense and feeling the quick pace of his heart, looked up and planted a small kiss on his cheek.

"I'm here Lee. I'm not going anywhere. I promise.", she said sincerely and hugged him tighter.

Lee visibly relaxed in her arms and his heartbeat slowly returned to its normal pace. They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, hugging each other in the comfortable silence of the studio.

"I really do care about you Lee.", Patty whispered softly, as she broke the hug and stared into Lee's eyes.

"I know. I'm sorry for this.", Lee said, swinging his hands around the studio as a gesture, and then kissed her softly on her forehead.

It was completely platonic, something he hadn't had with a woman in a long time. He didn't have any other female friends, he didn't have a lot of friends actually. But he doesn't really see Patty just as a friend, especially now that he thinks she has the same thing about him after the kiss she gave him when he was about to blow himself up to kingdom come moments ago.

"Anytime Lee. Anytime you want to talk you can come to me. I don't care if it's one o'clock in the morning or eight o'clock at night you only have to call.", she said and smiled.

Lee smiled back and thought of how to address his feelings to Patty. He looked at her as she was turning off the spotlight, leaving only the dim lights of the studio on.

"Hey Patty.", Lee called just as she was about to unplug some equipment Lee thought he needed earlier.

"One second Lee.", she said as she unplugged them.

But Lee couldn't wait anymore, so he walked towards to where she was.

"Patty.", Lee said sounding a bit desperate.

When Patty straightened up and faced him, he immediately kissed her without hesitation while Patty, on the other hand, was shocked at first but then relaxed into the kiss. Lee was sure, of his feelings, of what he wanted, of Patty, he was goddamn sure of it all despite his drunken state. He wasn't surprised at all when she kissed him back with the same amount of force that he is giving into the kiss. He held her face as they kissed, smiling as he did so and Patty wrapped her arms around Lee's neck.

Eventually both of them pulled back from the kiss to catch their breaths with Lee leaning his forehead against hers. After a moment, he stared into her eyes, both of them still catching their breaths from the kiss.

 _This is it. I'm sure of myself. I'm sure of Patty. I'm sure of what I'm feeling._

"Patty..", Lee started, staring at her eyes, still catching his breath.

"Hmmm?", Patty hummed in response, also staring back at Lee, clearly trying to catch her breath.

"I love you.", Lee said without hesitation, still looking deeply into her eyes.

Patty's breath caught in her throat, suddenly feeling like all the air in her lungs faded. She clearly did not expect that. She stared at him for a moment and then regained her stupor. She was about to say something but she was cut by Lee.

"You don't feel the same.", Lee said, his voice too quiet and almost cracking.

Patty shot her head up and saw Lee's face. He looked so defeated and heartbroken. His eyes were showing so much pain and desparation and anger and disappointment all at once that she couldn't quite figure out what he really is feeling. Lee was slowly making his way to get the gun from Patty's back, she acted fast and held his forearms quickly to stop or atleast try to stop him from doing so.

"Lee wait. Stop!", Patty said, trying to calm him down, knowing he's having another emotional breakdown like earlier. But Lee was relentless, he was fighting Patty to get the gun.

"I love you too, Lee!", Patty cried as she tried to make Lee stop.

And he did. He stopped fighting to get the gun from her back and slowly backed away from her a few steps.

"Y-You do?", his voice cracked as he stared at her.

Patty nodded.

"I always had, ever since the day I've met you Lee. I've loved you since the first day I wanted to leave you.", she replied as she walked over to him and wiped a few stray tears from his cheeks.

Lee then hugged her tightly and kissed her hair in response.

"Sshh.. It's okay Lee. I'm here. I love you and I'm here.", Patty whispered as she hugged him back, reassuring him that she loves him as much as he loves her.

"P-Please don't leave me too.", Lee said and hugged her tightly, his voice muffled because he was crying.

Patty, just realizing what Lee's greatest fear above everything else, broke the hug and looked into his awfully swollen eyes.

"Not a chance. You'll just look at the camera and we'll figure it out together remember?", Patty smiled as she cracked their inside joke and wiped the tears from his face.

Lee managed to smile a little at their joke and kissed her on the forehead.

With Patty, he was perfectly sure that everything will turn out just fine. Just as it always did when she's around.


End file.
